Information, social responsibility and ecological transition meet to redefine the
paradigms of the future and chart the course for renewed change. Friday 22 May,
starting from 9 am, the central hub of the University of Messina will host UniMe
Sustainability Day. The annual event, promoted by the University as a member of the
Network of Universities for Sustainable Development (RUS), is dedicated to the promotion of
numerous teaching, research and third mission activities related to the Objectives of
Sustainable Development (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
The initiative is part of the prestigious national program of the Development Festival
Sustainable, supported by ASviS – Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, which
constitutes an official contribution to the European Sustainable Development Week (ESDW).
The aim of the 2026 edition is to increase awareness of the current challenges
development models, promoting spaces for debate, information and comparison between disciplines
different.
As highlighted by the rector Giovanna Spatari, the event «represents a
now a structural moment in the University’s programming and an important opportunity to
dialogue with the territory. The University is called to train aware citizens and
responsible: through initiatives like this, our University confirms itself as a laboratory
active of good practices, in which research, training and civil commitment contribute to
building a more sustainable future”.
The schedule, as underlined by the University Sustainability delegate,
Roberta Salomone, aims to provide a clear photograph of the research activities and
UniMe-branded teaching. With over sixty interventions distributed between seminars and focuses
information and debates, the event is aimed at the entire citizenry, divided into five
specific areas: Resources and Environment, Mobility, Energy, Inclusion and Health. The event
therefore Friday will see the central hub of the University as the beating heart of the event, among the
classrooms of the Departments of Economics and Law and the courtyard of the rectorate with the desks
informative.
At the same time, Sustainability Day is part of a broader and more complex context
path of initiatives that the University wanted to dedicate to the culture of sustainability on the
territory. The activities officially started with “Go Green Go Bike – Your style,
Your bike, Your way to be sustainable”, an evocative collective ride from the Rectorate to
Villa Pace. The appointment was accompanied by a contest dedicated to the award ceremony
of participants capable of promoting zero impact mobility in an original way,
customizing clothing and bicycles with green messages. The program will continue
then on 22 and 23 May at the “Pietro Castelli” Botanical Garden, which will host the fourteenth
edition of the “Carnivorous Plants” event. For the occasion, the Cavea dell’Orto will do
as the setting for a series of thematic meetings, while the avenues of the structure will be enriched by
illustrative panels and collections of carnivorous plants. For both days, the Garden
Botanico will be open to the public with free admission from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 16:00
to 7:00 pm.
Gazzetta del Sud present between information, training and environmental impact
SES – Società Editrice Sud will also contribute to this complex comparison scenario
Gazzetta del Sud Giornale di Sicilia, whose presence testifies to the practical declination of
values of sustainability in the industrial and educational fabric of the area. The editorial team,
which always actively collaborates on University initiatives, will be present with a desk
in the space dedicated to educational activities set up in the courtyard of the Rectorate (section.
E8). With the presence of the journalist Giuseppe Palomba (Gazzetta del Sud) and Vincenzo
Trifirò (RTP) will talk about the company’s commitment to “Information, training and
sustainability: the industrial hub of Società Editrice Sud Gazzetta del Sud Giornale di Sicilia,
technology and environmental impact between editorial offices and the press centre”. SES’s commitment yes
effectively translates into concrete business choices ranging from the adoption of systems to
solar panels for the production of a portion of the electricity needed for your own
needs, up to a rigorous attention to the recovery and recycling of materials as a whole
production cycle. Added to these good practices is the choice to use water
coming from a proprietary well so as not to impact urban water resources
drinking water and the careful care of the company garden, with tree species selected for
promote environmental mitigation. A commitment dedicated to the ecosystem and
social responsibility which fits perfectly with the other direction of participation
of the group, represented by the GDS Academy. Through this strong convergence and a
deep interest in sustainability, SES and its Academy demonstrate the
desire not to limit oneself to just reporting the facts, but to actively take charge of
training of tomorrow’s professionals. The shared goal is
promote an ethics of communication capable of balancing the logic of the web with the
profound respect for the truth and sensitivity towards global ecological urgencies.
A vision that will find its ideal expression in the works hosted, starting from 09:30,
in the “Vincenzo Scalisi” Room of the Department of Law. The meeting, entitled “I
social networks and the digital age between geopolitics and ecology: the psychological dynamics for
responsible information”, is accredited as a professional seminar for the Order
of the Psychologists of the Sicilian Region and for the Order of Journalists of Sicily, with 5 credits
ethical issues (registration on formationgiornalisti.it). To inaugurate the works, moderated by
journalist of Gazzetta del Sud and head of the GDS Academy Natalia La Rosa,
will be the institutional greetings of the director of the COSPECS Department UniMe Carmelo
Maria Porto, of the president of the Order of Psychologists of the Sicilian Region Vincenza
Zarcone and the councilor of the Order of Journalists of Sicily Tiziana Caruso. The dialogue
will come to the heart with the report by Vincenza Zarcone herself on “Psychological distress,
information overload and contemporary crises: a clinical perspective”. Next,
the analysis by Simona Massimino, professor of General Psychology COSPECS UniMe, dedicated
to “Risk perception, cognitive biases and social network dynamics in the digital age”.
The ethical and informative horizon will instead be traced by Sebastiano Caspanello, editor
of Gazzetta del Sud, with the speech “Quality information between engagement and
responsibility: what rules for click ethics”, while the environmental issue will be
subject of the final report by Giuseppe Terranova, professor of Geography
economic-political COSPECS UniMe, on “The ecological footprint of social networks: one
geopolitical vision”.
The complete program of the event here https://www.unime.it/notizie/unime-sustainability-day-2026